clownship

noun

clownship

noun

Etymology From clown + -ship.

1

The role or art of a clown.

When the miracle plays became too comic for the taste of the bishops, a generation of lay showmen carried on the tradition of clownship. The combination of showman and dramatist did not outlive the Elizabethans; […]1926, The Twentieth Century, volume 99, page 450:

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